We propose a simple and intuitive measure of annualized excess return of investments in private equity (PE) funds, as well as in similar vehicles that hold hard-to-values assets. Our ‘Direct Alpha’ method is well-founded theoretically and dominates the existing approaches to convert fund...

We reconcile the major approaches in the literature to benchmark cash flow-based returns of private equity investments against public markets, a.k.a. 'Public Market Equivalent' methods. We show that the existing methods to calculate annualized excess returns are heuristic in nature, and propose...

This paper is the first systematic analysis of the impact of diversification on the performance of private equity funds. A unique data set allows the exact evaluation of diversification across the dimensions financing stages, industries, and countries. Very different levels of diversification...